Alice Gross murder suspect confirmed dead

SCOTLAND YARD said a body found in a west London park at the weekend has been formally identified as that of Arnis Zalkalns - the prime suspect in the Alice Gross murder investigation.

The hanged body was found in Boston Manor Park on Saturday, just a mile from where 14-year-old Alice’s body was found. Zalkalns, 41, had disappeared from his London home on September 3.

The body of the schoolgirl, who went missing on August 28, was recovered from the River Brent last Tuesday.

Zalkalns was jailed in June 1997 for killing his wife in Latvia. He was released from prison two years early after serving just five-and-a-half years, and later travelled to Britain in 2007, where he began working as a builder.

Police are still investigating how Alice died after post mortem examinations proved inconclusive.